I've probably accumulated enough third party plug-ins to make my eventual transition to another DAW straightforward enough, but over the years I have found a lot of use for Cakewalk's own. In particular, all my project templates are heavily peppered with various Pro-Channel modules.
 
Of the currently available SONAR alternatives, do you have any views on which have the highest quality/most useful set of built-in (as opposed to separate purchase) plug-ins?
 
Of all the 'which DAW should I switch to' (it's usually phrased as 'which is most like SONAR' or 'which is easiest to learn') threads I'm yet to see this question asked, so I guess it would be interesting to get a feel for the 'value' of proprietary suites available with other DAWs.
 
Thanks in advance 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(@CraigB - yes, there are other DAWs)

SteveStrummerUK
there are other DAWs

Nooooooooo!!!

Pretty impressed with the ones in Cubase I've looked at so far, especially the Frequency EQ.
Certainly nothing I miss from Pro Channel, and in my most humble and totally subjective opinion, I do think they may have the edge over SPlat.

Not sure there is anything missing, though not sure what the equivalent of Adaptive Limiter might be.
Only thing I use from SPlat is the CA 2A Levelling Amp; and really the only thing I miss is the Oil Can echo from the Nomad plugins, cos it's a weird little thing and there's nothing else in my plugin collection to replace it.



 

Ya, I'm gonna have to go with Cubase/Nuendo for my answer as far as "In The Box" tools. In fact when I was hunting around for a modern DAW (I was on a hand me down Nuendo2 system before I showed up here) it came down to Cubase and SONAR. SONAR had the (far) more robust FX/Instrument suite which is what I needed after having to completely abandon my jam spaces/live bands/drum kit/amps/misc. outboard gear/etc.
 
And that was during the X1 phase. The package got a LOT better since then (particularly the inclusion of AD2 because SD3 just wasn't cutting it for my needs). I simply could not afford to have to buy a whole pile of "extras" on top of building my new system AND the DAW itself otherwise I likely would have stuck with Steinberg.
 
Now though I am addicted to the Prochannel way of doing things and aside from amp sims I mostly use the PC stuff for my mixing. The whole reason I like SONAR so much is because I feel like I'm working with actually outboard gear/board(s). I find most of the other programs are too abstract in their GUIs and sound shaping and since the PC modules are mostly based on gear that can be easily researched and has been in use for decades in studio production. I think they modeled the most useful stuff for a clowno rock dino like meself (even if I did not know it at the time of purchase).
 
Losing the PC modules would be a catastrophe to me so I'm just going to squat on SONAR as is and not necessarily "lock down" my system but make sure I can keep working as I have been. I've also been working with Reaper quite a bit but a) no PC modules (pretty much every other Cake plug works though), b) Reaper is ultra abstract with it's GUI IMO and I don't like tracking/mixing/comping in it and c) it's an extremely complex program that requires a LOT of study to make it do what I need (even more so than SONAR was and it took me YEARS to get my blapples in the game there).
 
Everyone here talks about S1 like it's the obvious alternative to SONAR and maybe it is similar in its workflow but if I'm gonna drop even more money that I don't have on a new DAW I gotta say Cubase is probably the most logical choice for me. Especially considering that's what most of the indie Canuck studios use (aka my weirdo friends and what I hear from the music shop guys most of the young artists are using). They also seem to have something similar to the PC as far as onboard channel FX for easy tweaks... just not the same models/GUI.
 
I don't see me changing a bloody thing for a loooong time though. After X3 came out I was able to work the way I intended to when I first bought in (X1 was useable but problematic at times, X2 was a nightmare).
 
I just want to make music and have been able to do that. As long as I can continue to do so then I got no problems. Shiz... I could go the rest of my life using pretty much what I have now if nothing blows up on me.

Oh, and BTW, as much as I love working with SONAR as an artist, Cubase/Nuendo are extremely mature and full featured DAWs. I was checking out some workflow vids a while back and I didn't like the WAY things are done but it can most certainly do everything SONAR does and more (plus more reliably).
 
I have not heard the same about S1. It's supposedly a nice, tidy little DAW but lacks some of the capabilities and flexibity SONAR has.

 
 
@Eric & Beeps - thanks gents, really appreciate the input.

The Mushroom Farm songs I've posted were mixed and (re)mastered with Reaper FWIW (though I'm not sure what that is since SONAR is naturally the only DAW I know of!  ).

I think everyone should have Reaper installed. It's a great program and dirt bloody cheap (and the "demo" is of course completely unrestricted so if yer broke it's simply there to use at no cost).
 
It has seriously saved my arse with the album I've been mucking with and despite the dearth of "included" plugs there are all the free ReaPlug things that have been developed and of course it fully supports VST/VSTi stuff so you can use your own gack. Rock... freaking... solid too and faster than a teen boy on prom night.
 
I've always said if I ended up in a live multi tracking situation again I'd use Reaper for recording simply because it's an undeniably reliable workhorse and ultra efficient as far as resource comsumption (which is of course critical in live tracking situations... yanno cause clicks/dropouts are unacceptable when you've got a roomful of crazy artsy fart goons and can't endlessly retrack things).
 
This thread of course was about included plugs and whatnot though and Reap don't roll like that (which is of course part of the reason why they can offer it at the "price" they do... also the whole guerrilla DAW programmer thing is cool as hell).
 
BUT... Cubase/Nuendo have also established themselves as an "industry standard" alternative to PT which I will NEVER use unless absolutely forced to and they do have specific features/tools/workflows Reaper cannot provide without a lot of third party purchases and fiddling.
 
They also have the MIDI notation edge over the others from what I understand which is not imperative for me but of course very cool and useful.
 
Not sure if CB requires a dongle though (I know Nuendo does). Not big on the whole dingle dangle thang and it seems like something they should abandon in the age of laptop based production. Using up a whole damned USB slot (and having a massive lappy wart sticking out of the rig) is not ideal.

Studio One Pro has a ton of plugs bundled with it.  They range from quite usable to excellent, IMO.  Having said that, I've come down on the side of Reaper for now.  I already have a ton of 3rd party plugs; all things IKM, Waves Gold and NF IS3 being the main ones with a sprinkling of others.
 
I never did go with the ProChannel thing in SONAR.  It felt fumbly to me.

Can you use the Studio One Pro plugins with Reaper?
 
Or, perhaps more generically, can you use any included plugins with other DAW's?